


the woman with the bleeding heart (who thinks she is heartless)

by anissa_qiaolian



Series: outtakes, rewrites, missing scenes and other aos related works i was too chicken to post originally [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Melinda May Feels, Missing Scene, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 01, garrett being an ass, kinda? canon divergent, may being a perfect badass woobie, mentions of Bahrain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23021854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anissa_qiaolian/pseuds/anissa_qiaolian
Summary: Instead of killing Garrett, Team Coulson locks him up in Vault D indefinitely. He is surprised when May visits his underground cell. And, Garrett being Garrett, makes fun of her for growing "soft" towards her new team so quickly.
Series: outtakes, rewrites, missing scenes and other aos related works i was too chicken to post originally [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654600
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	the woman with the bleeding heart (who thinks she is heartless)

**Author's Note:**

> this one was never posted because i didnt have a plot to go with this scene. it was just something i wrote after rewatching s1 last year.

They put him in a fucking box.  Underneath the Hub, in a holographic container that could open with a few taps on an electronic pad.

It’s all good. 

John Garrett is exactly where he needs to be.  He hears footsteps and sits up a little straighter when the silhouette of small brunette woman comes slowly into view.

“Well”, he hears himself say. “This is a welcome surprise. Hi May.”  Her boots clack across the gravel that covers the basement and he stares up at her from his seat in amusement.  She can’t hear him.  Another neat little trick Coulson and his little scientists cooked up.

She’s not in uniform. The boots are the same and her jeans are as tight and black as usual but she is dressed in a t-shirt, arms crossed and thin brows pulled into a frown.  She presses a button on the tablet.  She waits. And waits.  He chuckles. 

“Phil send you down here to glare me to death?”

“No. Coulson didn’t send me down at all. He doesn’t know I’m here.”

He forgot how her unassuming her voice was. Just like he forgot how very small she is.  Let himself get seduced by her legend, like everyone else, while she sequestered herself in Administration, trying to forget the same thing.  “And how’s that going, with Coulson?”

“Don’t do this, Garrett. You know if I go in there only one of us is getting out.”

“Isn’t that what you want? I saw what you did to Quinn.”

“Do you know what I did to Ward?”

He laughed then.

“Oh yeah. I do have a question about that, though: why’d you leave the kid alive?”

She shrugged.

“Wasn’t my call.”

Of course. The loyal soldier. Always at Coulson or Fury’s beck and call. He decided to use that to his advantage.  “Man. I knew Coulson believed in all that ‘we are the shield’ crap but you too, Agent May? You’re supposed to be better than that.”

“Why would I be better than that, Garrett?”

He blanked at her question. Oh shit. She was talking about Bahrain.

“Huh. You really do believe you are ‘humanity’s shield’, then. That girl —“

“— Don’t.” She grit her teeth.

So it was about Bahrain. Of course.  May was so good at hiding herself that even she didn’t know she was open book to those who knew how to read her. 

Garrett leaned back and shrugged.  “Too far. Sorry. Let’s bring it back to the present, then. That’s why your here. Look about your new girl, I already told Ward-“

“—  _ Don’t _ mention him to me.”

“ _ Okay.  _ I mentioned  _ before  _ that Skye was a necessary risk for the intel on Coulson. If there was any other way—“

“— Don’t say her name either. And if you give me anymore cryptic bullshit about why it was necessary to  _ kill  _ a rookie with  _ no field experience  _ who wasn’t even an agent I…”

She clenched her fists. He could’ve sworn the poor thing was shivering. So she cares about the girl as well. This is new information.

“Whoa, whoa,” he spreads out his hands. Then he smiles. 

“Melinda May... do you like that new girl? Do you care about her? About all of them?”

May is all but quivering with rage. He decides to dial it back some to keep her from opening this little fish tank and whooping his ass.

“Well I’ll be damned. I’ve been wondering why Grant’s come back so soft these past couple months, just to find out you and Coulson have been playing house with your little baby agents this whole time. Isn’t that sweet.”

Her fury is more restrained now, but for someone like May, that’s probably even more dangerous. He eggs her on.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic, May. We’ve been collecting the same intel you have. Spying on the plane for months, gaining access, forging relationships. The encrypted line was a nice touch, though. Wish Grant thought of that.”

“Don’t you  _ dare _ compare yourself to me,” she spat. A crack in the armor, finally.

“I just wanted to help him, to-to see if he was alright. I would never,  _ ever _ , work for Hydra or do the evil things you did for intel. Believe it not, John... I’d rather save a life than take one.”

She was teary-eyed by the end and he actually felt sorry for her. He was one of the few who actually knew what the hell went down in that warehouse (high-level double agent, hello), and he knew that it broke her.

Specialists were trained to kill but May never took pleasure in it. And killing a superpowered demon in the shape of eight-year old child...well,  _ he  _ wouldn’t think twice about it, but he at least admitted he had no soul.

May was the best because she was able to do what was necessary despite hers. She had the stomach for violence, but not the heart for it.

“I know, sweetheart. I know you would without a doubt. That’s why you were never asked to join our ranks, despite being one of the finest agents SHIELD’s ever seen.”

She gets the double entendre and hardens her gaze, acting like the previous moment never happened.


End file.
